This chapter was a lot harder to write than Chapter 1 – probably because I cannot replicate the sleep deprivation that led to Chapter 1's creation without possibly endangering my health. (And apparently sleepy me has a much more extensive vocabulary.)
Prompt: Frosch
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its adorable characters. Also, the not so adorable ones.
Urp... was too excited over posting it that I forgot to re-add the linebreaks. Should be easier to read, now...
If there was one thing growing up her father's daughter had taught Lucy, it was to always go to the negotiating table holding all the cards. The correct concoction of foreknowledge, bribery, and distraction opens all doors and lends control over any situation. It was a strategy that translates as well to mage work as to the political and financial maneuverings her father had engaged in. Lucy is the intelligence gatherer of her team, and she uses it to her advantage both on and off the battlefield.
With the sole exception of removing them from their unpaid semi-tenancy of her apartment, sometimes it is just too easy to finagle her teammates into doing what she wants. All she really needs is the proper incentive. Which leads to her current quandary, for there is one member of her team immune to incentivized manipulation tactics and fully capable of turning her own plans against her – in fact, said teammate would do it for no other reason than to just mess with her.
Natsu is easy to convince to go along with her idea. Dropping a few hints of a home-cooked meal and suggesting that, "If it's really so much of a bother to you, I can always ask Gray," almost always yields results.
Gray often requires no convincing at all, the same with Wendy – this instance being no different. The two are simply content to spend time with Lucy no matter the circumstance (which always makes her feel a little guilty).
Cake and the promise of girl-time is all that's required to get Erza to comply.
Happy is the problem child. Even if she offers him fish, and he accepts the bribe, there is no guarantee he isn't going double-cross her later for kicks.
And a look of deep suspicion is crawling onto his small blue face in a manner that does not bode well for Lucy.
But there is absolutely no way Lucy is ever going to tell the devious fur ball the true reasons behind her desire to visit the next town over.
Instead, she sighs to buy herself a second to come up with an excuse he'll accept. "Fine. You win, Happy."
This only serves to make him more wary. "I do?" he asks, side-eying her and wondering if she really has lost it this time. Lucy never admits defeat, especially not to him. It's a large part of why he enjoys teasing her so much.
"You caught me. I don't just want to see the bazaar."
All trepidation is forgotten with his excitement and interest. "Oh?" he snickers, large eyes crinkling in mischievous glee. Placing a paw to his mouth, he purrs, "You lllllliiiiiike someone! You're going to lure them away to have your wicked way with them!" He doesn't understand why she would keep something like that from him. Happy is perfectly willing to assist Lucy as she exerts her underdeveloped feminine wiles on a hapless victim – all while keeping up a steady stream of commentary, of course.
"Don't hold your breath, cat," Lucy warns, although the remark hits a little too close to the bull's-eye for her liking.
It is true that she wants to separate someone in particular away from everyone else but not for the reason the stupid cat is implying. Her intentions are completely innocent, she swears. She just wants to return Rogue's cloak. Over a week has passed since the party, the lingering scent of musk finally fading from the fabric two days ago. Nightmares stalking her dreams again, she was desperate to return the article of clothing and hopefully, maybe, if Rogue was in a really generous mood, acquire a replacement or at the very least find out what laundry detergent he uses to make it smell so nice.
Even in her head it sounds insane. And mildly creepy.
And thus the cloak-and-dagger nonsense, pun intended. Deception is called for when the potential embarrassment level is this high. Although she'd laundered it earlier this morning, she would have to admit to the man that she'd been sleeping with the damn thing this entire time.
She really isn't looking forward to that conversation, but once again, desperate. And she doesn't exactly want to be completely alone when she broaches the subject, just in case he does decide to go homicidal maniac on her.
"I heard that Sabertooth has its Guild Headquarters there," Lucy admits to Happy. "I was hoping that while we were there I could go and visit Yukino-chan."
Happy is unconvinced. "Then why do you need to trick everyone into coming with you?"
"Can you imagine what would happen if I tried to leave you guys behind?" she points out. "You remember when I tried to do that solo mission by myself when I first joined the guild?"
He hovers in agitation around her head, leaning his face way too close in accusation. "I still don't see why you can't just say that." Tears well up his eyes, and Lucy is unable to discern whether they're crocodile tears or not. "Do you not trust us, Lushy?"
The pet name saps her willpower. A well-calculated move on his part, no doubt. Lucy gulps; the feline possesses far more observation skills than his Dragon Slayer partner. "Of course I trust you guys! I love Team Natsu more than anything in the world!"
Happy sniffs, calming down enough to alight upon her table again. "You promise?"
"I promise," she reassures him.
Satisfied for the moment, he nods. "Still, why not tell us you want to see Yukino?"
"I want to talk to her about getting the entire Zodiac together and doing something nice for them, since they worked so hard for us in closing the Eclipse Gate. And I want it to be a surprise for them, so please don't tell anyone – especially not Natsu. I don't want him to accidently blab to one of my spirits and spoil the surprise!" She's lying through her teeth, but as the words leave her mouth she resolves to do that as well. Her spirits completely deserve to have a little fun and extra appreciation thrown their way.
He accepts the excuse and grins at her. "Aye, sir!" Happy mock salutes her.
Lucy giggles at her cerulean furred friend. "If you could go get everyone else, I'm just about ready to go."
Before he leaves, Happy places a fuzzy paw on the back of her hand, covering her guild mark. "You know you can always talk to me if something's bothering you, right Lushy?"
Way too perceptive!
She smiles at him, despite her rising panic. "Thanks, Happy. I'm not ready to talk about it just yet, though."
She's not sure why, but she thinks she needs to talk to Rogue before anyone else. Future Rogue is the star of those nightmares causing her difficulties, after all.
There's something a little twisted about how she finds comfort in his presence, she's sure.
Lucy firmly rejects the romantic notion, born of too many trashy novels read late at night, that it's fate. Natsu had already proven that fate was shit. People's decisions were what mattered in life.
"Aye," Happy responds. He moves to the windowsill, but pauses there. "I have one more question, Lucy."
Dreading it already, Lucy waves for him to continue.
"Why bother going to the bazaar at all?"
"I need to do some shopping. Plus, I want to spend some girl-time with Erza and Wendy."
"…You're planning on making Gray and Natsu carry your bags, even though you're tricking them into coming along, aren't you?"
"Of course I am. They owe me with all the reward and rent money I've lost because of them."
"…You're evil."
"Shut it, cat."
"Can I still have that fish bribe? So it doesn't go to waste?"
"Out!"
She finds out that Happy has double-crossed her after all when half the guild shows up to attend the bazaar.
Flying lazy circles around her head, Happy snickers at the blonde's blatant irritation. "I thought you might need help with more people to distract!" More witnesses to whatever doomed-to-failure seduction attempt she was planning, more like.
The look on his face is priceless when she manages to split everyone up at the town entrance.
Lucy wonders if the Sabertooth mages she sees lurking around the corner think that they're being subtle.
Because they aren't.
Not even close.
They're just so… noticeable. Yukino-chan and Sting's hair colours alone are eye-catching enough without adding in the fact that Sting was a Guild Master and all three were rather famous in their own right.
The three mages plus red Exceed tiptoe across the cobblestone street lined with vendors. Pausing at the entrance to an alleyway, they all peer around the edge of the buildings at whatever lies beyond. Oblivious to the attention they're attracted from not only the shop keeps but the passersby as well. Like Lucy.
Natsu, on the other hand, is as inattentive as they are – too busy looking at a blue statue with tentacles and muttering under his breath about how it's weird. Like Lucy.
He's going to pay for that comment later, but his blonde friend is far more interested in the other two Dragon Slayers' antics than her pyromaniac's.
Happy alights upon Lucy's shoulder, having noticed the Sabertooth mages as well. "What are they doing?" he asks, munching on a fish.
Lucy flinches away from the bits and pieces of the ichthyoids' innards that the cat's spewing as he speaks. She shoves him off and he tumbles in the air, his wings catching him before he hits the ground. "That was mean, Lushy!" he complains.
"And I'm never getting this out of my hair," she growls back at him, finger-brushing the already fetid, slimy chunks out as best she can.
Sitting down next to her legs, he looks up at her and Lucy is relieved by her forethought in wearing shorts today. "I really don't see what I have to do with that."
The urge to smoosh his fuzzy blue face into the pavement is almost too great to bear. But then she'd get that nasty stuff on her shoe, as well. So she endures.
She returns to watching the Sabertooth mages, only to see the dark edge of Rogue's cloak disappear into the alleyway.
Great. Now she's lost sight of all of them.
It's none of her business, really. Still, she can't help but want to see what they were up to. Something about the group's faces made her uneasy. They seemed rather openly worried about something.
And that was exactly it. All of them had expressions of concern plastered to their faces; their body language radiating high tension.
Rogue's imperturbable self-possession was nowhere in evidence. This is the first facial expression she's seen on him, aside from that pained smile over a week prior when they hid under the table. That expression on anyone else would have given Lucy enough cause for concern, but on Rogue that face was tantamount to the world ending.
Actually, she was pretty sure that he'd taken the actual end of the world last week with far more aplomb.
Deciding to circle around and see what was up for her own gratification (not because she was, say, worried or concerned or anything), she grabs Natsu and drags him down the street. "I heard there's a great ice cream parlor this way! They even have a spicy pepper flavor!" It's not a complete lie; she really did hear about a famous ice cream parlor in the area but she has no idea where it would be.
Natsu follows her with a vague protest about the possibility of the statue being sold to someone else while he's not there.
'There's little chance of that,' Lucy thinks as she reassures him that they will go back for it.
The last thing she expected to do when she rounded the street corner was become caught up in a frog catcher's net.
Really, who could have seen that one coming?
Screeching and flailing her arms about is doing little to free her from the entrapping mesh.
"Oh! It's Frosch!" Natsu declares from somewhere behind her.
That name sounds… vaguely familiar to Lucy but she's got other problems at the moment. Once she's finally free, a small green and pink shape darts past her legs.
Now she recognizes the name. The little Exceed with the perpetually surprised look on its face, Rogue's partner.
"Ah!" the frog catcher screams. "Get back here, frog!"
Lucy isn't entirely certain what's going on. She does know that there is no way this guy is getting what he wants as long as she's around though.
As he swings his net at the fleeing creature, she steps back into its path only for it to become lodged around her shoulders again. "Why does this keep happening to me?!"
Next to her, Natsu has reached his limit. "All right!" Flames sprout up around him and Lucy takes it as her cue to vacate the immediate premises. "I dunno what's going on, but I'm fired up!" As he leaps into the fray, swinging fiery punches left and right, he screams, "It's clobbering time!"
When in Rome, right?
"Count me in, too!" she shouts, drawing forth a key to teach these idiots a lesson they won't forget any time soon. No one gets to hit her with a net and escape unscathed. She was going to have bruises from the metal net ring, after all! "Open, Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius!"
Several deadly volleys of arrows and one Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame later and the street has been leveled.
Fairy Tail's resident urban planning and development department has struck again.
Surveying the wreckage, Lucy sighs at the damage. "What did you do that for?!" she accuses Natsu. "You went and wrecked everything!" Ignoring her own contributions to the destruction because really, she wasn't the one most at fault here.
Her best friend dismisses her concerns. "Don't sweat it. We can just pay for the repairs with our next job's reward."
"What reward?!" she wants to know. "We never have any leftover reward money after a job because you've destroyed everything there, too!"
"You're loud!" Natsu complains, holding his hands over his ears.
That's when she notices that her shopping has also gone up in flames. "Ah!" Lucy wails. Now she's going to have to start all over with less than half the Jewels!
"Huh?" Happy glances around in confusion. "Where's Frosch?"
Sure enough, the Exceed is nowhere to be found, though Lucy catches sight of Sting, Rogue, Yukino, and Lector observing them. "Frosch vanished!" she says, mostly to alert the dazed looking observers. Poor dears just had their first taste of Natsu's completely unnecessary destruction tendencies.
"Where did it go?" Natsu wonders, scratching the back of his head.
The resulting outright panic arising from the statement is almost funny.
As the mages rush to hunt down Rogue's partner once again, Rogue turns slightly toward Lucy.
She waves a little at him, smiling.
He gives her one of his barely-nods, the corners of his eyes tilting upwards just the slightest, before joining his comrades in the pursuit of his diminutive friend.
Lucy mentally files away that expression under the heading, "Gratitude."
Lucy sighs and lays her head down on the bar, cheek pressed against the cool wood surface. "Mira? Can I get a smoothie?" she begs.
It's been a long day, after all.
Near the end of it, she, Natsu, and Happy had stopped by Sabertooth's Guildhall to check on whether Frosch had made it home safe and sound. No such luck, and the other members of the guild hadn't seen their comrades or Master all day.
Dejection dogged Lucy's steps home. She was still worried about Frosch, and she'd never gotten the opportunity to return Rogue's cloak to him. She'd kept it bundled up tight and safe inside her purse the whole day, too, where it had evaded Natsu's dazzling display of pyrotechnics.
She rubbed her shoulders, bruises from the frog net indeed starting to form there. That frog catcher swung that thing deceptively hard.
When the wide doors behind her open, she pays it no mind, intent on rubbing feeling back into the vicinity of her collarbone. So understandably, she jumps at a voice next to her ear.
"That looks painful."
Lucy wonders if this is going to become a habit between the Shadow Dragon Slayer and her – him scaring the crap out of her with innocuous statements and gestures. Resolving to immunize herself to this as soon as possible because her blood pressure is already dangerously high thanks to Natsu.
As he settles into the barstool next to her with his Exceed firmly in his possession, she smiles at him. "It is smarting, but I'm sure a little ice will fix me right up or a bit of healing from Wendy. Thanks for your concern, though."
He blinks at her, and then places Frosch on the bar countertop next to them. "You have a mark on your face," he points out.
Apparently she'd been lying against the wood grain longer than she'd thought. "Ah. Thanks," she awkwardly replies, rubbing her cheek in an ultimately futile attempt to erase the creases. "It's nice to see you two again. What brings you both to Fairy Tail?"
The green cat lifted its costume-clad arms. "Fro got lost! So Fro tried to get home, but…" It lowered its head and tears gushed down its face. "Fro ended up here, instead."
"I see," Lucy nodded her head, though she's brimming over with curiosity as to how, precisely, Frosch managed to arrive at her guild in the next town over. "Well, how did Rogue-san end up here, too, then? Did he get lost as well?"
Rogue's narrowed eyes were almost missed by Lucy, a gesture characterized by a subtle and minute tightening in the muscles around his eyes most people would have overlooked. While the man tried to gauge the angle the Celestial Mage was after, Lucy was hard put to place the exact emotion Rogue was displaying. Suspicion? Or maybe anger? She wasn't any good at this!
Frosch ceased its sniffling, peering at its partner in confusion. "Did Rogue get lost like Fro?"
Clearly he has decided to go along with her for now, as his face is devoid of expression once more. His crimson gaze flicks back to his partner. "Yes."
The monosyllabic response was enough to reverse Frosch's entire countenance. Brightening, it wipes its eyes.
"You know, Frosch," Lucy ventures, "you did very good for being lost."
It tilts its pink-frog-suit-clad head at her. "Fro did?"
When Rogue mimics the head-tilt down to the exact angle, Lucy nearly bursts into laughter – wondering whether the Dragon Slayer picked it up from the Exceed or if it was the other way around. Controlling herself, she continues, "When you're lost, sometimes it's best to head for a place your loved ones can find you; it doesn't necessarily have to be home." The smile she directs to the Exceed is fond. "I think Fairy Tail is a great place to go when you're lost."
Leaning in conspiratorially, she holds up her hand to block her voice. Fully aware that Rogue can hear her regardless, she whispers, "I once got lost for a whole year. When Natsu finally found me, he brought me here to Fairy Tail." Technically, she knew where she physically was the whole time. Home had been lost to her, though. Once she found it, she'd never left. "Then, during the S-Class Trials, a bunch of us misplaced ourselves for seven years."
Although Frosch's eyes could not get physically wider than they always were, the small creature managed to communicate its shock with far more ease than its Dragon Slayer.
"That's… pretty impressive," Rogue intoned, a glimmer in his eyes, his lips quirking upward for a brief instant.
'Amusement!' Lucy is in shock over the appearance of the emotion.
"Fro thinks so, too!"
Lucy's own lips twitch upward as she restrains a slap-happy grin. Every new expression she identifies fills her with a childlike joy, reminiscent of the time she cracked open a dull stone to discover beautiful crystals within. "Why don't you guys make this your meeting point, then, should you ever get lost again? Do you think you can find your way back here?"
"Fro thinks so!"
She giggled at the Exceed. Frosch was a sweetheart. "I'm sure both of you are hungry, so why don't you flag down Mirajane for us, Frosch?"
"Okay!" it agrees and trundles off down the bar.
When she glances at Rogue, she's struck with much the same feeling as when they were under the table together, and he'd half-smiled at her. This time, though, he isn't looking at her, and the expression on his face isn't rueful in the least.
He's watching Frosch with such tenderness and affection that it floors Lucy, and not just because it's open and easy to read.
It's the exact same smile her mother used to turn towards her.
The indulgent love of a parent for a child.
She's overwhelmed with waves of nostalgia.
Far too soon, he schools his face back into its usual placid façade and she's left feeling empty and mind-numbingly jealous of the Exceed. Not just for the smile, but for all the expressions it can wheedle out of the stoic Shadow Dragon Slayer.
And she's been caught staring. Amusement has put in a repeat performance on his face.
Lucy laughs in nervousness. "You have a nice smile," she blurts before she can stop herself. "You should smile more often; it looks good on you."
Curses; she could have sworn she'd murdered and disposed of that thought already. It's back like a zombie.
All traces of amusement fall from his demeanor as he stares at her with an intensity she can't figure out. "I…" he starts to say.
'Will not murder Lucy for her impertinence?' Lucy thinks, hopeful.
"I shall… try," he finishes, surprising her.
"Oh!" she exclaims, swiftly occupying herself with her purse while she tamps down on her rising blush. Lucy flings another silent curse towards her inability to stop the flood of colour to her cheeks. "I have your cloak." She almost slaps herself as soon as the words leave her mouth because now that she's brought it up, she's going to have to discuss the even more awkward and embarrassing topic of acquiring the cloak he was wearing for her sleeping needs. Shit. Bad move, Lucy. She never thought well when flustered.
'Spirit King, please drown me in Eridanus before I make an even bigger fool of myself.'
She thinks she hears a deep throated chuckle in response to her silent plea, but shakes it off as her imagination.
What she doesn't realize is that she has, in fact, said it aloud, and the chuckle originated from, of all people, Rogue.
Dark cloth in hand, she holds it out for Rogue to take. "Here you go."
He takes the bundle from her with the same care he'd displayed with the fork at the party. "Thank you." This time, his reply is smoother.
Lucy feels like they're making progress.
Progress she's about to ruin.
Rogue sets the article of clothing on the bar. "Was this why you came to our town?"
Straight to the heart of the matter. Rogue really wasn't one to mince words or beat around the bush. "Yeah," Lucy admits. "We all went to do some shopping – which, incidentally, Natsu also incinerated, in case you're curious." As punishment, she refused to take him back to the statue he liked – he needed to save his money to pay for the damages. He was still pretty miffed about it.
"I saw that," he admits. "It was… excessive." In so many ways, he's unable to articulate them all. "I appreciate your efforts to help Frosch, though."
Lucy glances down the bar, where Frosch is animatedly waving its stubby arms while conversing with Mirajane. "We stopped by Sabertooth on our way out of town, but you guys weren't there. I was hoping to talk to Yukino-chan, too…" She's totally stalling, she knows, while she tries to figure out a way to broach the subject.
When she swivels back to Rogue, he's stiff and his expression is unreadable once more. "My apologies," he states, standing up from his stool. "I did not realize I was keeping you from speaking with Yukino."
Huh? What?
Snagging his sleeve before he can retreat further, Lucy holds it tight. "Wait!" she cries. "Why are you leaving? I didn't… offend you or anything, did I?" Her voice wanes at the end, moisture gathering in the corners of her eyes. She didn't want him to leave just yet.
…She still needs that cloak, for one.
But more than that, she enjoys speaking with him.
Rogue returns to his stool, his eyes affixed on hers. "…You did not offend me," he states.
When he neglects to clarify further, Lucy releases his sleeve (that she'd forgotten she was clutching). "Then, I don't understand why you tried to leave."
A slight angle to the way he holds his head communicates confusion to the girl. "I thought I was keeping you from speaking with Yukino?" he offers.
His thought process completely baffles Lucy.
"Why would you think that?" she asks, receiving only the barest hitch of his shoulder for a response. "Just because I wish to talk to her doesn't mean I don't want to talk to you." Lucy tenses, as she begins to understand what's going on. "Oh. I get it. You thought you were bothering me?"
His hesitation is enough answer.
Apparently he's just as baffled by her as she is by him.
That's… somewhat comforting.
She shakes her head and tucks a loose strand of her hair behind an ear. "You're not a bother. Rogue, I like talking to you."
Her omission of the honorific to his name does not go unnoticed by the man.
"…Very well, Lucy." His reply uplifts her, as he's left off the honorific as well – tacit permission to continue without formalities. "Was there anything else you wished to discuss?" The way he phrases it is more appropriate for a business meeting than a conversation between friends.
Back to her main issue. Might as well get it over with – like leaping into a glacial lake.
"Actually," she begins, reluctant but determined to exercise her courage, "I do have a request." Lucy hesitates, Rogue's expectant silence weighing her conscience down. She fidgets. "It's about your cloak."
"Do you wish to borrow it for longer?" inquires Rogue.
"Erk," she mutters, a strangled noise emanating from the back of her throat. "Not exactly... I was wondering if… maybe…" Her cheeks are getting warmer by the second. "Could I perhaps borrow the cloak you're currently wearing?" At his lack of response, she adds, "The other one doesn't… smell right, anymore."
His eyes widen to a degree that she would have found comical if it weren't at her expense. Then understanding flits across his features. Before she knows it, he's already shrugged out of the garment and is holding it out to her.
Dazed, she takes it. "Just like that?" she asks, disbelieving. "No, wait! I mean, thank you!" Though belated, she remembers to thank him for his generosity, and she clutches the dark fabric close to her. A surreptitious sniff fills her senses with warmth as the musk enters her nostrils.
He watches her with obvious interest. "Did you not think I would give it to you?"
Lucy opens her eyes, which had slid shut without her consent. "Um… yeah. I thought you would refuse," she admits. "It's a little weird, right? To want someone's clothes for the scent?"
Rogue shakes his head, and it's much more than his usual minute gestures. "I'm a Dragon Slayer. Scent is integral to how I perceive the world. Why would I disregard your need for it?"
The way he says it is reassuring to Lucy – not because of his inflection, because there wasn't any. No, he says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world to him. This also has to be the most he's ever spoken to her in one sitting.
"Thanks," she whispers, genuinely touched.
"May I…" He hesitates, before asking, "May I inquire as to why you desire that scent?"
She doesn't pause to contemplate whether or not she should confide in him what she does, for it just feels right. "It keeps the nightmares away."
He doesn't get a chance to respond, for Frosch returns at that moment. "Rogue! Mira-san is getting us food! She has lots of fish! We have to come back lots!"
And just like that, any growing tension is dispelled.
"You know, before today, I had no idea that Sabertooth was so close to Fairy Tail – practically just around the corner. You guys should come visit us often!" Lucy suggests to Rogue, though she's heavily implying that they had better come visit or else she'd point Natsu in their general direction to watch the fur fly. She's desperately hoping that Rogue is much more talented at reading complex facial expressions than he is at making them.
Either he is, or what he says next is merely a coincidence or more of his polite civility. "You should visit us as well."
She smirks at him, reaching out to Frosch and placing the Exceed in her lap. Frosch purrs at the attention Lucy is giving its ears. "Like you could keep me away from this cutie."
Lucy smiles down at Frosch as the Exceed declares, "Fro thinks so, too!"
Too preoccupied with Frosch, she fails to notice the soft smile Rogue has leveled at the back of her head.
It's gone by the time she looks back at him to ask questions about Sabertooth under Sting's… unexpected leadership.
It's only after they leave that Lucy realizes that she completely forgot to talk to Yukino about the Celestial Spirits. Smacking herself on the forehead, she sighs in exasperation. She had been way too involved in her discussion with Rogue to even recall that Mira had never brought her the smoothie she'd requested.
She waves at the Sabertooth mages as they disappear around the corner.
"You llllllliiiiike him," a voice purrs above her head.
"You're delusional, cat," Lucy quips back at the blue feline. "I've only spoken to him twice."
Though, somewhere deep inside, she wonders if maybe the little guy has a point.
'You're delusional, Lucy.'
…But at least now she has the cloak.
Not much from Rogue's point of view this time. It's easier for me to write Lucy. Frosch and Happy were a delight.
Still not proofread. This will be a trend for this story.